STOCKTON – A section of Interstate 5 was closed for about 10 hours after a high-speed pursuit led to a deadly officer-involved shooting early Thursday in Stockton, authorities said.

The Record

STOCKTON – A section of Interstate 5 was closed for about 10 hours after a high-speed pursuit led to a deadly officer-involved shooting early Thursday in Stockton, authorities said.

A 43-year-old man, wanted for attempted homicide in connection with a brutal stabbing in San Jose, led officers on a pursuit that reached speeds of 115 mph before his vehicle became disabled while traveling south on Interstate 5, authorities said. The man wielded a knife as he exited the vehicle and refused to comply with officers' commands, police said.

One police officer fired her weapon multiple times, striking the suspect at least once, said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department. The man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Silva said.

The deadly sequence of events began about 12:39 a.m. when the Escalon Police Department noticed a 2004 Suzuki that was weaving slightly, said acting Escalon Police Chief Milt Medeiros. An officer radioed in the vehicle's license plate number and learned the vehicle was associated with a wanted man, Medeiros said.

The officer attempted a traffic stop on Highway 120 and Main Street in Escalon, but the driver refused to stop, instead leading the officer on a pursuit on two-lane country roads that reached speeds of 110 to 115 mph, Medeiros said. The officer terminated the pursuit due to unsafe speeds and lost sight of the vehicle near East French Camp and Jack Tone roads, Medeiros said.

Escalon police notified the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office and the California Highway Patrol, which spotted the vehicle on Highway 99, said Officer Dan Sepulveda, a spokesman for the CHP. Another pursuit ensued with speeds ranging from 90 to 115 mph, Sepulveda said.

During that pursuit, officers learned the man was wanted for attempted homicide in San Jose, Sepulveda said. The San Jose Mercury News reported that the man was suspected of viciously stabbing a woman in San Jose in November. Authorities later determined the man was also wanted for domestic violence in Merced County, police said.

The driver raced north along Highway 99 and west on Hammer Lane before making a final turn onto Interstate 5. The Suzuki traveled south on I-5 before becoming disabled for unknown reasons at 1:14 a.m. between the Alpine Avenue and Country Club Boulevard exits, Sepulveda said.

There was a 33-minute standoff before the driver came out of the Suzuki wielding a knife and refusing to obey officers' commands, authorities said. Highway patrol officers reported shots fired at 1:47 a.m., Sepulveda said.

The name of the officer involved in the shooting will be released later today, Silva said. Police have not identified the dead suspect.

Authorities have launched a multiagency protocol investigation into the shooting, and the officer who shot the suspect has been placed on three-day paid administrative leave, standard procedures in all officer-involved shootings, Silva said.

I- 5 was closed while authorities conducted their investigation. Traffic was diverted onto surface streets until the highway was reopened about 11:15 a.m., authorities said.

Read Friday's Record for more on this story by staff writer Jason Anderson.